Stakeholders at the 2026 Lam Adesina Annual Lecture Series have called on the Oyo State Government to renew its focus on agriculture, revive technical and vocational education, and make poverty reduction a priority.
The lecture, held on Wednesday at the Hall of Grace, Jogor Centre, Liberty Road, Ibadan, honoured the late former Governor of Oyo State, Alhaji (Dr) Lam Onaolapo Adesina. Its theme was “Shaping the Future of Oyo State: The Nexus between History, Progressive Politics and Development.”
The panel included former House of Representatives member Hon. Kazeem Adedeji Adeshile, former Oyo State chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) Hon. Abass Ayodeji Aleshinloye, and Barr. Lekan Olanisebe, among others.
One panellist said the education system’s emphasis on white-collar careers was discouraging young people from pursuing agriculture. He pointed to what he described as a sharp decline in applications to the University of Ibadan’s Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, saying some places remained unfilled during the current admission exercise. He added that some candidates who missed out on their preferred courses were encouraged to study agricultural science.
The panellist said he hoped more young people would choose agriculture as their first option. He recalled Nigeria’s history as an exporter of cash crops and argued that dependence on oil revenue and federal allocations had left farmers with inadequate support. He urged the Oyo State Government to put agriculture back at the centre of its economic plans and align education with the sector’s needs.
Another speaker urged leaders to draw on Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s example by judging government policies by how they improve people’s lives. While acknowledging the progress Oyo State had made and the responsibilities shared by government and citizens, he said hunger and poverty deserved greater attention.
“Governments are mostly concerned about roads, bridges and infrastructure, but people are hungry,” he said. He asked how residents struggling to feed themselves could fully benefit from such investments and urged the government to give poverty reduction greater weight in its development plans.
The panel also called for education to reflect the realities of today’s job market. Speakers said young people could no longer count on finding salaried work soon after graduation and should be taught practical skills that would help them earn a living or start businesses of their own.
One panellist said nearly all technical colleges in the state had been neglected and challenged the perception that vocational work was reserved for people with little formal education.
“Everyone wants to graduate and work where they wear suits, but we have left vocational work,” he said.
He called for closer collaboration among government, schools and training institutions, citing potential partnerships between the Oyo State College of Agriculture in Igbo-Ora and agriculture faculties at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, the University of Ibadan and other institutions in the state.
The discussion also turned to party politics and development planning. One panellist cited Lagos as a model for Oyo, saying President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had followed a development plan during his tenure as Lagos governor. He said he believed the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate’s manifesto could bring significant development to Oyo if the candidate were elected and implemented its proposals.
The speakers argued that governments earn public goodwill by meeting residents’ needs. They cited the Unity Party of Nigeria era in the old Oyo State under Chief Bola Ige, recalling that leaders from areas now in Osun State served in senior positions and, in their view, enjoyed public acceptance because of the government’s performance.
They said a similar focus on service delivery could help Oyo residents judge prospective leaders by what they can deliver, regardless of where they come from or the faith they practise.
